SP split now official: Shivpal announces new party, Mulayam to head it

Lucknow : Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav on Friday announced he was floating a new political party to be headed by his elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The new outfit will be called the Samajwadi Party Secular Morcha, said Shivpal Yadav, the estranged uncle of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Sidelined since 2016 when Akhilesh Yadav ousted him from the cabinet first and then divested him and Mulayam Singh of their posts in the Samajwadi Party, Shivpal Yadav said he was forced to form the new party to "restore Mulayam's honour".

Over the last one week, Shivpal Yadav had been attacking his nephew Akhilesh Yadav, asking him to return the Samajwadi Party's National President's post to Mulayam Singh.

Akhilesh Yadav had said after becoming the National President that he would restore the post after the assembly elections.

The Samajwadi Party suffered a huge setback in the assembly polls of February-March. It won just 47 seats as against the 228 it held in the outgoing 403-member assembly.

Shivpal Yadav has been daggers drawn with his nephew for many months after a bitter family feud and power struggle broke out in the 25-year-old Samajwadi Party.

He had threatened twice in the past to quit the party and float his own if "respect" was not shown to Mulayam Singh.